S. Lanka B&B manager charged with molesting French tourist

26th April 2013, 0 comments

A French guesthouse manager appeared before a magistrate in Sri Lanka on Friday charged with sexually molesting a 33-year-old French tourist, officials said.

At a hearing in the southern town of Galle, Magistrate G. K. Munasinghe impounded the passport of 44-year-old Olivier Sage and freed him on bail of 110,000 rupees ($880), fixing the next hearing for May 29.

Police officials in court gave Sage's address as the French Villa guesthouse in the nearby coastal resort of Unawatuna, adding that he was the holder of a French passport.

"We informed court that there was no medical evidence of rape, but we are maintaining that there was a sexual attack as defined in the penal code," senior superintendent Jayantha Wickremasinghe told AFP.

If convicted, he could be jailed for five years. Sri Lanka tightened laws in 2006 to protect women and children from sexual harassment.

The latest complaint came as police earlier this month said there had been an increase in attacks against foreign tourists visiting the Indian Ocean island emerging from nearly four decades of ethnic war.